A short while back fellow GadgeTell writer Jeremy told us which apps he considered essential to have on his Nexus 7 tablet. And well, given I also picked up a Nexus 7 and perhaps more important — given that tablet has been well used thus far, I figure it was about time I did the same. Just to give an example of where the Nexus 7 has fallen into my daily use, I recently noted that I was able to let my daughter take my iPad with her on an overnight trip — without giving it any second though. That being said, here are the apps that I consider essential for my Nexus 7 experience.

Before I dive into specific apps, let me discuss how I set things up. After the nexus 7 was set up with my Google account, I removed EVERY widget and app leaving the dock and all five homescreens blank. From this point I then began to add what I wanted and needed. I use just two screens. The first and main being the middle and the second being the one just to the left of middle. Regardless of position though, my second screen has two items — the Google Calendar widget and the Any.DO widget.

The main screen is a bit more populated, as you can see in the above image. Still, I use the real estate sparingly and tend to gravitate towards folders. My dock consists of Chrome and Gmail on the left side with Google+, Twitter (the official) and Facebook on the right side. I also have a 5-day weather widget, a battery status widget and the Evernote widget (I love Evernote). Widgets aside, the remaining non-foldered apps include Settings, The Weather Channel and the Play Store.

Diving into those folders and you can really see how my Nexus 7 usage breaks down. I have six folders set up and each have a few apps on the inside.

Reading: Instapaper, Flipboard, Kindle and Google Reader

Video: Netflix, Hulu Plus and Play Movies

Audio: Slacker, Play Music, Sonos, Audible, Doggcatcher

Cloud: Evernote, Drive, Carbonite Mobile, SugarSync, Any.DO

Images: Instagram, Gallery

Games: Dead Trigger, Nesoid, Ataroid, Dropbox (for storing ROMs)

As you can likely tell, aside from capturing thoughts and notes with Evernote, my Nexus 7 is pretty much a consumption/entertainment device. I also have the Lookout app installed, just in case the Nexus 7 ever ends up lost or stolen — this will give me a possibility of getting it back.

And lastly, one more app that I use from time to time — though this one is actually installed on my Mac. That app is the Android File Transfer app (something not needed for Windows users), which allows me to move files on and off of the tablet. For me, I use this to transfer movie files mostly. I am currently watching the US version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.